


Building A Hold

by ilyena_sylph, Merfilly



Series: Another Chance: Chronicles of DC/Pern [6]
Category: DCU (Comics), Dragonriders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-31
Updated: 2013-12-31
Packaged: 2018-01-06 22:06:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1112055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilyena_sylph/pseuds/ilyena_sylph, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A different look at the founding of Ruatha Hold.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Building A Hold

_[Year 19 AL/Year 12 of Pass]_

It wasn't often that Nyassa came down from Fort, so when Faranth told her that Milath was winging in, Sorka dismissed the three junior queens she was teaching so that she could go meet her. She emerged out into the sunlight, blinking against it, and she flicked her eyes over Milath, then Nyassa. Both of them looked perfectly fine, so what brought her?

"Sorka," Nyassa called as she slid down from Milath's back, "good to see you! You cut your hair again."

"You didn't," Sorka answered, glancing at her shoulder-length mass. She hugged Nyassa, careful of her own growing belly. She was hoping for another girl, but had an inkling that Sean was hoping for a boy. Oh well, he had come a long way from the patriarchal mess that Porrig was.

"I _like_ the padding under a helmet," she replied, amused, "and I didn't come down here to talk about our hair. Your da has either gone spare or gone brill, and I'm not a bit sure of which!"

"Up in the north you can afford the heat of it," Sorka said, trying to digest the rest of that. "And… what?" She shook her head. "No, come in out of the humidity; fall may bring cooler temperatures, but it's still a soggy mess."

"Fall? -- oh, it is, isn't it?" Nyassa shook her head before they got moving back into the Caves. "You'd think, as long as I've lived North, that I'd remember. Anyway. Your Da's been riding the road up from Fort to our Weyr a couple of times a week, talking to David and I -- and Orsono and Isaiah -- to make sure what he's planning won't tax us too much. Nice that he worries about it," she finished, and Sorka turned her head just enough to see that she was at least grinning.

"Okay now you have me just plain curious, Ny," Sorka told her, heading for one of the closer small 'resting rooms' located at this level. Most of the Caves were either empty from hunting or engaged in dealing with the latest round of weyrlings under Tommy's guidance. "What in space has my Da gone and done, and why am I hearing of it from you instead of by Snapper?"

"Found himself a new place to stake, is what he's done, and as to why you're hearing from me..." Nyassa shrugged, thinking about it. "Either he wants to be able to show you the place once it's all set up and not before, or something I'm not thinking of, or he's being an absolute darling and not telling you and Sean for fear you'd influence us one way or the other."

Sorka snorted… mostly to cover the fact this was the final nail in the coffin, so to speak, on the wish for her family to come back south. "More the first, I'll believe." She sighed dramatically. "And Ma probably thinks he has said, but is far too busy to ask me what I think!"

"I'd believe that, for sure," Nyassa agreed. "Your Ma has more energy than _I_ do, and I've no idea how she manages those kids." She shook her head, smile on her lips. "I was surprised you and Sean hadn't been up to look, and with him finally deciding he's going to get the Admiral to agree so that they can move before it's high summer.... It's a gorgeous place, and as far as we can see, it's been brushed by Thread but never hit directly, not in this Pass."

"Huh." Sorka chewed on that a long moment, then her eyes narrowed craftily. "Da hasn't said a word, but it would only be me being a good daughter if I go up and offer to take the littlest ones off Ma's hands during all the prep and move, yes?"

Nyassa laughed, grinning at her, and nodded. "Sure would. Least, seems that way to me, anyway. So, has Sean mentioned that we've started cutting up in the caldera over on Big Island?"

"That I did know, something along the lines of needing more Hatching space, and maybe a slightly better convalescent area?" Sorka knew they were far too tropical in the ways the xenobios had said would breed diseases in the long run, but Big Island's winds kept it less likely to do the same. Something about relative humidities, vegetation, and the sort that had gone over Sorka's head despite her interest. She just preferred here and now science to 'in ten or twenty generations'.

Nyassa nodded. "Yeah. Given how much our darlings love the sun, somewhere _warm_ for them to get better -- that doesn't burden you lot -- really does sound good. Also, With the last queens hatched, we're just about to _need_ more room for them. And then there's that the sea-folk are using that big cavern more and more as a stop-over.... What about you? Has Sean found anywhere he wants to break off a group to? Have you?"

Sorka smiled, her eyes hiding secrets as she decided to be playful with Nyassa. "It's getting tight in the Caves, with the latest hatchlings on track to add another five percent mass, like our own first clutches did. Sean's always planning…"

She let her words hang, just to see how Nyassa bit.

"Oh, don't I know it," Nyassa agreed, but then her head tipped to the side. "It's almost funny, seeing them getting bigger every time another generation matures -- and Milath mutters that there's room for her and Polenth both in either couch... But come on, Sorka, where are you looking at?"

Sorka laughed softly, nodding to all those points. "We did rush in here, for all we planned it out. I don't think even Bay expected the generational development to progress so quickly. It's getting to where we may just use it as a Flightless Weyrling barracks, to be honest, once everything else sorts out."

"Everything else? What, has Sean pledged you to secrecy or something?"

That had Sorka in a full fit then, until she was almost teary eyed with the force of laughing too hard, shaking her head in the negative. "No… nothing of the sort. Just loving the way you rise to the bait, Ny." Sorka gave her a quick hug. "Drake's Lake. We've finally found a stable cave system on the interior side of the lake, opposite where the works are. And we've found a smallish limestone complex we can adapt on one of the peninsulas."

Nyassa hugged her back, even through her mock-baleful glare. "Wretch. Oh, I'm glad to hear that. Two fighting weyrs down here, and then one to train... that sounds good. I guess it's where we all grew up, it'll be a good place for all of them to." She smiled, looking a little wistful, as her hand stretched out to brush the wall behind them.

"We'll never give it fully up, but the cutters must go to new places; these walls proved so hard to shaped as it was," Sorka told her. "And we're running out of room for the larger colors as they mature. The other side of putting the flightless ones here is to help protect the younger green riders, and to a degree, the queens. Since mating flights broadcast so loudly, and after that incident with… oh, you may not have heard about that."

"What happened?" Nyassa asked, tension sharpening the lines of her eyes and her jaw, making her shoulders square out.

"Sean may have discussed it with David, but it was recent, and your last few clutches lent to blue, not green…" Sorka began, then drew in a breath. "Mating flight for a queen, and we suspect, a green, can hit the younger riders just… wrong. We've got a few that are down at twelve, thirteen, because Sean's trying make sure there's not going to be a coverage gap as the elder riders age past ability to fight. And one poor girl, just got so … bothered, that it set her dragon to scrabbling through a narrow corridor, trying to reach her. So we've taken to sending the weyrlings on errands, if we know there will be a rising female."

"We've a few that young, too," Nyassa said, nodding. "The poor dragon.... is she all right? The rider?"

"They'll both be fine… physically. We're worried about inhibitions, and healthy partnering when the green matures," Sorka admitted. "Rachel has been working with her on the emotional scarring of the dragon getting minorly hurt, while Catherine -- yes I still blink that she's the one so good about teaching sex-ed, and I blame it on her unlamented husband -- helps her understand her body better."

Nyassa snorted, her eyes all wry amusement, and she nodded. "Sounds like everything's going about as well as it can, then. And I'll keep that in mind for our kids, too."

"Good." Sorka shook her head. "Thank you, for coming to tell me about Da. Now… while you're here, and we did just get in harvest, is there anything you want to take back with you?"

"Let me come run through the stores?" Nyassa asked, cocking her head. "I'm sure there is, but hell if I can think of it without looking."

Sorka laughed. "I know the feeling. When one of the food producers asks me if I want something special, my mind totally blanks." She got up to lead Nyassa over to the 'cold' cavern where food was stored. A graduate from Omaha had taken over that part of things; Nora Fries had a touch for keeping food fresh, preserving it, and knowing when it needed to compost… before riders got sick.

Nyassa followed her, picking up with some of the gossip from Fort Weyr, and they went to go investigate her stores.

+++

Mairi looked up as someone came into the teaching room, and lit with a bright smile to see her daughter. There weren't any children attached to her, which was surprising, and slightly worrisome. "Sorka, love… what are you doing up here?" she asked, trying not to jump to conclusions about any of the grandbabies.

"Thought I'd come offer you a hand, Ma," Sorka answered, a bright smile on her lips that did much to ease Mairi's worries. "With Da planning to move the lot of you out, you have to have a million things on your mind. Least I could do is take the littlest sibs of mine until you're settled again... I mean, you've near-raised all of mine."

Mairi pursed her lips, then started laughing. "And here your father was so certain he'd be settled in at the new place before you or Sean had time to notice!"

Sorka joined her in laughing, color in her cheeks marred by the thin line of a healed Threadscore, and shrugged one shoulder. "Between the dragons and the fire-lizards, does anyone actually keep a secret on Pern?

"I do want to see the place, or at least hear about it, though!"

Mairi grinned. "I've got the satellite prints in my office." She looked for her most responsible child in the room. "All of you behave, and listen to Sarai." With that tended, she took her daughter to the small cubby she'd turned into her own for all the admin that went with being one of the main primary care technicians. "Your da is actually either on the trace up there, or already there right now. He's been getting up there as often as he can. A bit higher elevation, but he says it will breed stronger horses."

"Da'd know," Sorka said as she followed her over to look at the prints, leaning one hip against the desk as Mairi located the printouts in question. "I miss horses, but... Faranth. And wow, look at that growth! That's not re-growth, that's old -- well. Old for here on Pern, anyway."

"I'm looking forward to harvesting as much of that as we can," Mairi agreed. "We'll find uses for it, try to cultivate the rest. He's tied up most of our last credit in extruding poles for the paddocks he sees in his head…. here." Mairi pointed out the flat space near one of the stone facings with a rough opening.

"Deep cave in that opening?" Sorka asked, leaning in a little closer.

"Oh yes, high vault for circulation, floor just waiting for use to cover it with soft, dry lining out of some of that growth… finally got a proper chipper that can take those woody vines and make something the beasties don't mind standing on." Mairi smiled fondly. "Your Da? He's got big plans, and Jair's right in there with him, asking him what tools and such he needs to make it all work. Brian complains that she's focused more on this than him these days… playfully."

"What're they running the chipper on? As for Jair, I'm glad to hear she's deep in it. What's Brian think -- when he's not muttering?"

Mairi shrugged. "Your brother is more than ready to tackle our own space, and looking at the caves we've found so far with an eye to how to make them work better than the way Fort was carved. As for the chipper, it's using quikal and other ethanols for fuel, now that Jair's reworked its engine." She smiled brightly at her daughter. "Oh Sorka, we'll be out of this warren and into a proper place by summer!"

That gained her a sudden, fierce hug from her daughter, and Mairi hugged her back just as close, still so relieved and delighted. Fewer babies for her to care for, almost certainly, once they were away from Fort... but after the last few years... Mairi was fairly sure she wasn't going to mind that. Even her love of children had been slightly dampened by having dozens of them to care for daily for several years.

"I'm glad to hear it, Ma," Sorka said, not letting go of the hug. "So... who-all has signed on with Da? You can't be intending to go that far from Fort just with the family, even _with_ as many of us as there are..."

Mairi laughed at that, and pulled out a list. "Here's the total so far… and I think it's a balanced bunch, even if a lot haven't settled in for making families yet," Mairi told her daughter. "We need all the skills to keep a stake running; that's one thing we have learned from looking at Fort with its technicians versus your southern stakes and their diversity."

Sorka grinned, quick and bright, at that, and she turned her attention to the list, her fingers running down it. "Stars know, they're certainly finding every _which_ way to thrive," she agreed. "I think Roy's spent half his free time out on Ierne Island since he found out just what they're doing over there," she was grinning affectionately about the redhead they'd adopted, so to speak. "This is a pretty good group, I think. We've got kids out of some of these families... and a lot of your fosterlings've decided to go with you instead of stay here, that's good."

"A chance to break the ties of the past, begin anew… just as we did by coming to Pern in the beginning," Mairi agreed. That got her another quick, fierce hug from her daughter, and Mairi leaned into it, before they settled to just talk for a while.

+++

Madeleine showed up in Jair's cramped work space with her sketch pad… made of recycled paper that showed all the wear and tear of many uses. "Time for me, Jair?"

"Always, Maddie," Jair answered, shifting around so that she could look at her instead of leave her back turned. "What's up this time?"

"I've done my thinking, and looked at the various designs used in the south, as well as mapped out the cavern we said would work for the kitchen," Maddie told her. "I don't think I'll need much in the way of devices… composter, spits, and a good grinder or three. I've sketched it out…"

Jair grinned, reaching for the sketch pad. "All right, let me see. I don't know how you're going to keep the lot of us fed, I've never understood how Pierre does it, either, but anything I can do to make it easier, you know I will."

Maddie opened the pad, starting with the outer face. "The spits have to go out of doors, and stone-lined ovens would not be a bad idea either. We won't be able to use them if Thread is falling on a given day, but we know its pattern, should the stuff shift to come right over us, and can plan ahead." She pointed them out. "Red doesn't care for canines to herd his horses, as he thinks it makes them skittish, but for spits?"

"They make pretty good kitchen help," Jair agreed... and then shook her head. "Could you ever have imagined saying that, before we came here? Also, what about a few rotisserie-style inside? Maybe the upright kind?"

Maddie thought about it, then flipped to the cavern interior. She had it marked out with the various needs, from soups to breads, and nodded. "How about here? The sounding said there was a shallow pocket cave that could be reached, and its near enough to the baking area that a chimney could be fashioned."

Jair nodded, reaching for one of her own pads. "We've been planning on at least two chimneys cut straight-down through the cliff -- with shutters -- for the kitchens, wouldn't be hard to either cut a third or build venting from there to one..."

Maddie smiled. "I tried hard to push all the fire working either outside or toward where you said the chimneys would be," she said. "Depending how much we quarry out, we might even be able to build shelters high enough and wide enough over the spits, once the other outbuildings are made."

"Might," Jair nodded at that, chewing thoughtfully at her lip. "I'll stick it on the list. What did you think of the plumbing plans I sent over? Look like they'll work for you?"

Maddie grinned. "Certainly! We just have to remind the men that the great outdoors does not need marking!" She found the men's habit of using stunted trees to be funny. "Seriously, you'd think they just believe they have to!"

That set Jair to laughing as she grinned up at Maddie, "Not going to argue with you about that!"

She let silence fall for a few moments, then cocked her head. "Anything else you've thought of that the lot of us haven't?"

Maddie flipped through her pad, trying to see if there was anything… and brightened. "Any possible way of cutting service chutes from floor to floor in those narrow little passages they sounded? Someway to ease getting dirty laundry down to the washing room would be lovely. I know Telgar didn't think our weather would work for the sun-driven mechanical 'dumb waiters', and no one's come up with a decent solution yet. Not enough heat source for a steam driven gear works, Brian was saying last time. But chutes… no power needed, and we train a rat-terrier or some such to 'fetch' things that don't slide all the way? Or make it a game for the younger ones, if the slant's not too bad?"

"That sounds like a plan," Jair said, sitting up a little more, interested in that challenge, and located the newest plas-printout of the cave system they were moving to -- the one with the rooms they intended to cut marked all through it -- so that she could start planning out the best places for those. Not too many, or the rock would lose stability, but a few...

++++

Sorka, Sean, and all of their children were in attendance the day Red had set for the official welcoming to the new stake. Sorka stayed with her husband but turned the children loose to go play, much as Roy and Dick did with Lian and Julienne, a rare treat for the child that was being raised mostly by her mother at Sadrid. Sorka was far enough along in her pregnancy to feel a little unbalanced, and kept her hand lightly on Sean's arm.

With the tragedies of their miscarrying green riders now recognized as a byproduct of going _between_ at the wrong point in a pregnancy, Sorka had privately decided five was going to be enough, regardless of it turned out to be a boy or a girl.

That reminded her; she really ought to explain the fire-lizard fright that had happened while her Da and Ma were moving to the stake. Such a near thing, but… the dragons and their riders had learned again how the bond could help a sick or hurt rider survive. She shifted her weight, reaching out towards her Da's arm. "I know I didn't say much when I answered Snapper's message the other day, do you want the rest of the story?"

"Be nice to know who we should look out for," Red said. "All you said was rider almost lost."

"We were worried at first that it had to do with you," Mairi said. "But they kept giving us glimpses of Fort."

Sorka nodded, breathing out a sigh. "Not me, obviously... Alianne. No-one was expecting her to have a problem in labor, but from what David and Polenth said, Chereth started getting upset the way Faranth always does -- " she saw her parents' confused looks and chuckled, shaking her head a little. "Faranth is firmly convinced that having hatchlings should _not_ hurt, and she gets nearly irrational about it. Anyway. Chereth started getting frantic, and that got Rachel's attention. That was the first we knew of it, Rachel bolting out to Chamuth to get to Fort in time. Nyassa went for Basil, and -- thank all the stars -- got him there in time.

"She's going to be weak for a while, she lost so much blood from the tearing, I don't know _how_ she got that far into labor without help, but without Chamuth helping Chereth make her hold on, I don't know if Basil would have had enough time to save her. It's... Ma, how have we lost _that_ much, this fast?"

Mairi shook her head; she'd had no trouble with her own children, but she'd seen some that it took everything from to give birth. "We didn't bring the med beds, the scanners, because we knew we couldn't replace them anyway. But I don't think the medics were fully aware of just how different that makes the more common medical things," she surmised. "I know I heard Beth complaining about not having the ability to safely make certain drugs… and there's a vague divide between the naturalists and the chemicalists."

Red grunted at that. "Keep finding more and more in the nature of this planet that's helpful. It's like every plant, having fought to survive, is intent on being potent in some fashion."

Sean nodded to that, as the Weyr used more of the natural anesthetic and narcotic than any single stake, and he knew David was in the same boat. Sorka breathed out a low, unhappy sigh, and nodded at her mother, before she smiled at her father. "That's the truth, Da. I think we're all glad of it, too."

"I know we are," Mairi told her. "Now, tragedy was averted, so we'll add a bit of a celebration to the day for Alianne… and what did she have?"

"Little girl," Sorka said, grinning. "She and Jacques -- you remember him, dad? Jacques Durant, he was apprenticed under Caesar for a while -- haven't picked a name yet."

"Well, we'll raise a toast to them all!" Red said, having nodded to the question. "Along with the toast for the new home we are making!"

"Have you picked a name for this place yet?" Sorka asked, raising a brow at Red.

He scowled at her, and Mairi began to laugh.

"It'll come to me," he protested.

"Better be coming fast, Red; they're looking for you up near the doors," Sean said to his father-in-law.

That gained another glare, and Sorka hid her giggle behind her hand. "Go on, da. We'll be here."

"Poor man; so much done, but the name just hasn't really come to him," Mairi said, before her husband turned around and grabbed her hand to tug her along with him as they headed towards the doors.

"He'll find it," Sorka said. "I think every stakeholder has had that problem. Sean and I tossed names around for a week, and we never even had the place!"

Sean snorted. "Still tempted to name the new Weyr after our wishes."

"I don't think anyone would argue?" Sorka offered, leaning closer to her mate, watching through the opening as Tarrie's little brother organized the teams installing the airlock doors into the main doorway.

"We'll see," he said, settling his arm around her to watch as her family officially took on their newest life. Red and Mairi had stepped outside to join the crew pulling, and they pushed the door shut from there. Sorka held her breath for a moment, and then the bars slammed home, securely locking any possible Thread out, forever. She smiled in delight, and then the wheel spun to let her parents back in. She burst into delighted cheers that she heard Faranth, Caranth, Polenth, and Milath all echoing, along with the rest of the guests.

Her father filled his lungs, calling out, "Admiral, Commanders, Weyrleaders, captains, one and all, be welcome to --"

Oh no, Da! Sorka had just enough time to think before she saw a smile break across his face. "Be welcome to the Hold of Red's Ford! In the old language, Rua Atha!"

"Ruatha!" Mairi called from beside him, glancing up the distance between them, and Red smiled back at her. "Oh, that's a splendid name, Rua Hanrahan!"

"To Ruatha Hold!" her father bellowed, and Sorka lifted her voice in the joyous toast. It was perfect for her parents, it was -- and Faranth and all the dragons on the fire-heights bugled their pleasure along with their riders.


End file.
